to companies by the Surgeon-General, upon application of the company commander, approved by the surgeon in charge of the hospital at which they are stationed and the medical director of the department. Non-commissioned officers" warrants shall be furnished by the Surgeon-General.

XVII. All orders, parts of orders, or circulars heretofore published at variance with the foregoing have been revoked.

By order of the Secretary of War:

W. A. NICHOLS,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL-ORDERS,
WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 77.
Washington, April 28, 1865.

FOR REDUCING EXPENSES OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.

Ordered:

I. That the chiefs of the respective bureaus of this Department proceed immediately to reduce the expenses of their respective departments to what is absolutely necessary, in view of an immediate reduction of the forces in the field and garrison and the speedy termination of hostilities, and that they severally make out statements of the reductions they deem practicable.

II. That the Quartermaster-General discharge all ocean transports not required to bring home troops in remote departments. All river and inland transportation will be discharged, except that required for necessary supplies to troops in the field. Purchases of horses, mules, wagons, and other land transportation will immediate consumption. All purchases for railroad construction and transportation will also be stopped.

III. That the Commissary-General of Subsistence stop the purchase of supplies in his department, except for such as may, with what is on hand, be required for the forces in the field to the 1st of June next.

IV. That the Chief of Ordnance stop all purchases of arms, ammunition, and materials therefor, and reduce the manufacturing of arms and ordnance stores in the Government arsenals as rapidly as can be done without injury to the service.

V. That the chief engineers stop work on all field fortifications and other works, except those for which specific appropriations have been made by Congress for completion, or that may be required for the proper protection of works in progress.

VI. That all volunteer soldiers (patients) in hospitals, except veteran volunteers, veterans of the First Army Corps (Hancock's), and enlisted men of the Veteran Reserve Corps, who require no further medical treatment, be honorably discharged from service with immediate payment.

All officers and enlisted men who have been prisoners of war and now on furlough or at the parole camps, and all recruits in rendezvous, except those for the Regular Army and the First Army Corps (Hancock's), will likewise be honorably discharged.

Officers whose duty it is under the regulations of the service to make out rolls and other final papers connected with the discharge and payment of soldiers, are directed to make them out without